Another Lie
by The Dark Crimson Blood
Summary: The straw hats begin to regret lying to Luffy, especially after listening to their Captain apologize for the same exact reason. The hairline crack in their friendship spread further.
1. Chapter 1

_**Summary: The crew never expected to come back to the ship one day and find their Captain apologizing multiple times for losing the flag. They weren't prepared for it either. **_

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"I'm sorry for losing the flag!"  
The crew didn't know whether it was karma or destiny when one day their captain came to them, repeatedly slamming his head on the ground; and apologizing. Why was he apologizing? He had accidentally lost their flag fighting some surprisingly strong, no-name pirates with devil fruit abilities; he had been the first one back from the random town they had visited. He hadn't been looking, and because of that; one of the enemies managed to get away with the flag in hand, he hadn't expected it, nor had he noticed until it was gone. Luffy managed to hunt the pirate down, knock him out, and retrieve their Jolly Roger before the crew got back and noticed; but even though he could have hidden it like they had, even though he could have lied and pretended nothing had happened; as if everything was the same. He didn't, and he was now currently on his knees with a bowed head as he constantly apologized to the baffled crew.

"I was the one guarding our ship, our flag, everything. It's my fault the flag was stolen; apologies will not help, but if it means anything; I'm sorry"

This was one of the occasional moments when their Captain became serious, and it was truly horrid for the crew because at this particular moment; they were even gultier than he was. They hadn't been able to tell him that they lost the flag, allowing it to be stolen while they were all there. They prevented him from noticing, so they could keep their pride and not be scolded by their 'idiotic' Captian'.  
Until now they haven't regretted lying to him. Infact, they had completely forgotten about it! They never expected this to happen, they weren't prepared for it.

"Why are you guys so quiet?"

So they did what they believed was best, they played it off like they normally did.

"Luffy!" Nami finally broke the silence, though you could tell she felt horrible as she charged him for losing the flag "You owe me 10,000 beri for losing the flag!"

"Geez Captian, you depend on us too much" Zoro could only play along

"Maybe I should think of something SUPER to protect the flag!" Franky mumbled, even though he was thinking, it wasn't about making something to protect their flag.

"Yohohoho! Luffy-san, you musn't worry too much" It was lucky that Brook hadn't been there when the rest of the crew lost the flag and lied to their captian, if he had been then he surely would've felt the guilt they were going through right now.

"Whatever, you got it back didn't you?" Sanji was finally able to find his voice, despite what he felt, he pretended not to care.

"No worries! The great Captian Usopp will be here to save the day next time!" For once, Usopp didn't want to lie; especially about this. For once, he wanted to tell the truth. For once, he felt guilty about lying.

"Be careful next time..." Chopper managed to mumble, he hated this; it was like he was lying to his captian even though he wanted to come out with the truth at that very moment. Even back when the crew had lost the flag, he had been the one who wanted to tell the Captian they had lost it, but retrieved it; though he kept quiet anyway, simply doing what the rest of the crew did despite.

"It's okay, Captian-san" Robin used her Devil Fruit abilities to pull her captian up, pat him on the head, and release him; a small smile that didn't reach her eyes remained on her face as she did so. Despite her previous life of lies and betrayel, why did she only regret her actions now?

"You guys..." The strawhat on Luffy's head hid his eyes, "You guys are the best!" He announced suddenly, a large grin on his face as he faced them; "Though, I won't lose the flag again, no matter what."

"Luffy-san, didn't you think of lying? Since you did get it back before we returned" Brook felt intense pressure on the ship that Luffy didn't notice; he simply spoke with the widest smile yet, "Nope; I could never do that, I can't lie to my friends no matter what! Because..." He trailed off.

"We're friends aren't we?  
"What kind of friend would I be if I lied to you?"

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**This idea has been in my head ever since the crew lost the flag...**  
**Apologies to my followers! I'll continue my other stories soon... .**  
**Review! I want to know your opinions of this oneshot, and I like reading them...**  
**I hope you enjoyed, I wrote this at like; 1:00am, it took me an hour.**  
**My harddrive went out, so my other stories (new) are gone D:**  
**I wasn't sure what to make Luffy say at the end...**  
**So I kept both the lines, (meh.)**  
**I think that's it ._.)/ Bye...**  
**Awkward end**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author: **The Dark Crimson Blood  
**Story Title:** Another Lie**  
Chapter Title: Sequel**  
******Story Summary********:** The crew never expected to come back to the ship one day and find their Captain apologizing multiple times for losing the flag. They weren't prepared for it either.  
**Words: 1,037  
Note: **It's not as good as the first, but I couldn't leave it at that; after promising a second chapter... :p  
**Updates: **Check my profile! I've written down what times I plan on updating stories :)  
**There's a poll on my page~! Vote if you'd like,**

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_It hurt._  
It made his chest clench up in pain, it took away his breath; he was suffocating, he was shaking. His breaths were ragged and his eyes had widened considerably, they were darting in every direction; it was as if he had lost control of his body. The blood was pumping through his veins much faster and he was sweating; despite the horribly freezing night air that swept past him every few seconds.

_He knew  
_  
That they lied to him; that his ever so trustworthy crew lied to him. The same crew he had trusted so, so much had lied to him. _Lied _to him after he put so, so much trust into them. He believed them, he would have never known; he would have continued believing them without hesitation, without a single thread of distrust.

He was pretty sure they knew their mistake, that they would be forgiven before he even blinked an eye

He knew that his crew mates knew of their mistake; yet they didn't tell him, they kept it from him. For over two years now, they had kept a lie from him. It would've been fine if they had just came out and said it; admitted their mistake the moment they lied or, even better; the moment they lost the flag. But they didn't and that was the whole problem with this situation. It's the fact that they didn't trust him enough to tell him the truth that hurt him. _  
__  
They_ _lied_

They had pretended nothing was wrong; should he have suspected something the moment they hesitated to speak to him? Should he have noticed the forced actions delivered through his crew when interacting with him? Should he have... Should he have trusted his crew so much in the first place?

Yes, he should have trusted them; it was his fault, that he was such a bad captain to cause everyone to lie to him... He couldn't blame them, could he?

He swallowed dryly, pulling his hat over his head to cover his eyes as he stood up; he turned, deciding he'd talk to the crew about it tomorrow.

* * *

His eyes had bore into the ceiling the entire night; he was tired yet he never managed to fall asleep. He wonders if anyone noticed his lack of excitement when breakfast was called; if anyone noticed how he slowly stood up and dragged his feet behind the rest of the crew members. Though, he was positive they noticed him stand up at the end of breakfast; without touching a single piece of food on his plate, he'd ask Sanji to save it for later. "Guys," he began, immediately catching everyone's attention.

"We need to talk"

Everyone tensed, not one person moved; even as the cheerful, fun environment ceased and became silent. "The flag,"

"W-What about the flag?" Nami was the first to speak up, turning away from the previously love struck cook yet avoiding eye contact with her captain, "You got it back, right; or is there something wrong with it?"

"D-D-D-Did something happen?" Usopp stuttered out, his eyes constantly moving from one person from the next; it was obvious he knew where this conversation was going, there was nothing he could to prevent it.

"He knows," Zoro stated, he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms; unlike denying it like everyone else was, he simply accepted it, he never took his eyes off of his captain.

"Knows about what?" Brook hadn't been there at the time the rest of the crew betrayed their captain in trust; so it was correct for him to be confused with the situation.

"The flag, we lost the flag; back on 'Lovely Land', we allowed the enemy to steal the flag" Franky said, breaking the brief silence that came after Brook's question.

"W-We lied and told him we had it the entire time!" Chopper cried out, small hooves wiping away his tears

"Chopper," Luffy said, eyes still shadowed by his precious straw hat; he turned to the reindeer sitting next to him, "Your mouth was covered, you tried to tell me"

"L-Luffy!" The reindeer cried, already jumping onto his friend, his captain, his savior, his brother, his family.

Luffy automatically petted Chopper's head; calming him down with one simple touch.

"How did you find out?" Sanji finally spoke up, putting down the multiple dishes back onto the counter

"You were discussing it; You, Zoro, Robin, Nami, Chopper, and Franky. Chopper wanted to tell me." The reply came without hesitation, which only managed to make the situation become even more tense than it already was.

"Luffy-" Robin had been silent the whole time, almost unnoticed; she had obviously been thinking. The second she spoke up, Luffy interrupted her; "But, don't worry about it; I forgive you, all of you."

Silence, there was nothing but silence before Luffy continued; seemingly oblivious to the shocked expressions on his crew's face. "I must've done something, to make you lie to me; I must of betrayed your trust... So I'll apologize; Sorry, guys."

With that, Luffy's hat fell back to the point where it hung off his neck; and a larger than life smile appeared on his face, his eyes were closed; which prevented his crew to see the lifelessness within them.

Brook and Chopper followed their captain out of the room, everyone else; stayed

They didn't know what to say, what to do, or how to act; the guilt was even worse than before,  
It was suffocating.


End file.
